A Southwest Airlines flight took off from Portland, Maine on June 25 for a seemingly routine journey to Baltimore, Maryland. There was just one downside; air site visitors management by no means cleared the airplane to take off as a result of the runway and the tower had been nonetheless closed that morning. The scheduled opening was solely two minutes away. The FAA and the NTSB are actually investigating the incident with cooperation from the provider.
Controllers warned the low-cost airline’s flight crew a number of occasions that there was a car on the runway, however the crew by no means responded. In an audio recording obtained by WMTW, a controller is heard stating, “Southwest just turning onto 29, just so you know there’s a vehicle in the runway still and it is closed.” Fortunately, the car cleared the strip as Southwest Flight 4805 started its takeoff roll.
Air site visitors controller later contemplated minutes later, “Did you ever get ahold of that Southwest plane that went airborne? It’s still kind of MIA in that regard.” The flight safely reached its vacation spot, Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. However, it doesn’t take a pilot’s license to appreciate how disastrous the scenario might have been. Southwest informed Simple Flying:
“Southwest Airlines is engaged with the NTSB and FAA to understand the circumstances of an early morning Southwest departure on Tuesday, June 25, of Flight 4805 from Portland International Jetport. After departure, the aircraft continued safely to its destination.”
A distinction of two minutes would possibly sound inconsequential, however a possible collision involving an airliner needs to be averted in any respect prices. We are speaking a couple of huge plane carrying over 100 passengers and crammed with over 2,000 gallons of gasoline. Near-misses are occurring extra regularly than ever, over 40 per 30 days by some counts. While federal regulators are trying to enhance security, solely distance separates a miss-near from a tragedy.
Source: jalopnik.com